Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Minimizing flooring to molding gap

I assume that getting a tight fit between a replacement molding and a new wood floor is largely a function of the subfloor condition but I'm wondering if this is taken into consideration before laying the floor. Do professionals run a straightedge around the edges of the room? Or can the molding be deformed enough to take up the inevitable low spots?

Reason I ask because I have significant gaps but only on the sides of the room where the molding is at a right angle to the flooring. I'll probably put down a quarter round to cover it up but I'd like to know how this problem is avoided.

Alex:

The answer is no. You can achieve this without using a shoe mold or qtr'd by "scribing" the base to the profile of the finished floor. Sorry no pics or a website to ster you to. I gotta go to work. Maybe I'll find one later for you. Wait you may find something at

www.finehomebuilding.com

I think I know what you mean. Use a compass to transfer the irregular surface to the molding and then remove the extra material. What type of tool would you use to remove the material?


Thanks for the help

Use a large pencil, the square carpenters type. Run the pencil along the floor itself and it will transfer the contour of the floor onto the base. Considering the base is already on all parts of the room my idea may not work, unless there isn't any gapping on the ends.

Basically you'll be cutting the base height shorter, and it may not match up with the adjacent ones.

Sorry, but I must raise the possibility that this sub floor is out of spec for a floating floor. If the sub floor is not flat within either the manufacturers specification or 1/8" in 8' the floor may become noisy and there could be surface chipping at joints. Of course if the sub floor flatness is out of spec, the warrantee will be void. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

I forget what the requirement was, but it was not 1/8"! I believe it was 1/4". This floor is floating over a thin (about 3/8") sheet of foam. I'll never use this type of flooring again. I didn't have to remove the molding but I originally didn't want to use a 3/4 round to cover the gap. Also, even a 1/8" gap between the molding and floor is very obvious.

PS. One of my neighbors put in a nail down wood floor in and before he installed it he replaced all of the sub floor plywood! And these houses are only 15 years old.

The gap at the edge or around the parimeter of the floor is usually specified at 1/4". Flatness is specified at 1/8" but the area varies from 6' to, I believe in one case, 10' and is usually about 8'. The reason for the gap is expansion. The reason for the flatness is to support the planks that are only about 1/4" or 5/16" thick depending on the product chosen. The foam is to "take up for" minor unevenness of the sub floor. My interest was the result of the space between the flooring and a straight piece of molding, if the molding is straight, because flatness is put in question.

I agree that most of the gap is caused by an uneven subfloor. I sanded/planed all of the places where there was an edge but didn't check for gradual changes in flatness. It appears that the plywood may be sagging between joists. The place where the gap is the worst is near the kitchen sink and thus may have suffered some water damage at some point, causing the plywood to sag.

May I ask how you would acheive 1/8" flatness on a plywood subfloor? Seems like a lofty goal.


Thanks for your comments

alex:

I didn't realize this was a floating floor. If the base is flexible enough you won't see the gapping as you can simply push it down as you go along nailing after the floor is installed.

Alex, "lofty goal" may speak volumns. What is the subfloor material and thickness? What is the center distance of the floor joists? There are basically two solutions, one is the replace or resurface the sub floor and the complications of either and then if the floor will support Self Leveling Cement, the use of that to level the floor. In either case a sound, flat sub floor is needed and now I question if that can be reasonably expected.